Arrest made in Pamela Pitts murder case; suspect in custody for 1988 killing

A woman has been arrested in Nevada and charged with the 1988 Prescott murder of 19-year-old Pamela Pitts, according to Yavapai County Sheriff’s spokesman Dwight D’Evelyn.

Shelly Marie Harmon, also known as Shelly Norgard, 46, was arrested in early June in Nevada and was extradited to Yavapai County on Tuesday, July 11, and booked into the Camp Verde jail on one count of first-degree murder.

Harmon is being held on a $3 million cash-only bond.

Pitts was found dead at Gordo's Pit, now called Alto Pit, in September 1988.

She is presumed to have been at a party on Sept. 16 at the pit, a popular spot for underage drinking.

Her burned remains were found there two weeks after her death.

The county's medical examiner was unable to pinpoint a cause of death, due to "postmortem incineration."

At the time, Harmon was named publicly and investigated as a suspect. Harmon, 18 at the time, was one of Pitts' two roommates in 1988.

For years, detectives could never prove their suspicions about Harmon regarding Pitts. “During the past several months, we developed additional details linking her to that murder,” D’Evelyn said.